Corporate Kicker Opponents Collect Initiative Signatures

Oregon initiative activists begin gathering signatures this weekend for a measure to do away with a corporate tax rebate.

Photo credit: Elizabeth Jenkins/ FlickrNorthwest News Network

Oregon initiative activists begin gathering signatures this weekend for a measure to do away with a corporate tax rebate. It's known as the kicker because it's triggered when tax revenues exceed projections by more than two percent.

There's also a personal tax kicker, which this initiative would not touch. The labor-backed group, Our Oregon is sponsoring the ballot measure. The proposal would send money from the corporate kicker to schools. Spokesman Scott Moore says currently most of the refunds go to companies headquartered outside of Oregon.

Scott Moore: "We feel pretty confident that a wide majority of Oregonians are going to choose to spend the money on our K-12 schools rather than sending it to out of state corporations."

Moore's group campaigned successfully in 2010 to raise state taxes on corporations and wealthy Oregonians. Don McIntire is with the conservative group, the Taxpayers Association of Oregon. He opposes the new ballot measure because he says the kicker law curbs state spending and creates more private capital for jobs.